Of the brothers who made up the Bee Gees, only Barry Gibb now survives. He pays tribute to his lost brothers in a tour which brings him to Manchester – the place where it all began, writes Paul Taylor

Some time in late September, a man in his mid 60s with long greying hair will stand in a suburban street in Chorlton and gaze wistfully at a three-storey semi.

It was here in this house in Keppel Road that an 11-year-old Barry Gibb and his eight-year-old twin brothers Robin and Maurice would sit in the basement listening to the hits of the day, and trying to write songs.

One Saturday in the late 1950s, the brothers set out for the Gaumont cinema, where youngsters were allowed to go on stage and mime to the hits of the day. But, en route, the record they chose to mime to got broken and the brothers decided to sing live. They liked it so much, they did the same at another cinema. By chance, there was a newspaper photographer in the audience, and so their mother only discovered her brood’s foray into showbiz when she opened the Manchester Evening News.

The rest is pop history. The Bee Gees racked up a series of pop hits in the 1960s, rode the crest of the Saturday Night Fever disco wave in the 1970s and continued to produce songs in subsequent decades – not just for themselves but for the likes of Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

The Bee Gees in their early days

Barry Gibb is, according to the Guinness World Records, the second most successful songwriter in history after Paul McCartney.

“Nothing wrong with number two,” says Barry. “It certainly is an incredible honour.”

Barry returns to Manchester in September with his Mythology tour. A return to the places of his childhood is inevitable.

“It’s my memory, and I’ll be right there, standing in the street looking at it,” he says of the old family home, about which he cares so passionately that he bought it 25 years ago.

This particular trip down memory lane will be tinged with sadness, though.

Last May, brother Robin lost his fight against cancer, nine years after Robin’s twin Maurice died of complications from surgery for a twisted intestine. Their younger brother Andy – who had a solo music career - died in 1988, aged just 30, from heart failure following a viral infection. Barry, aged 66, is the last surviving musical Gibb brother.

Some in his position may shy away from taking an emotional walk down memory lane.

“I want to do the same sort of memory chase I did in Australia,” Barry insists. “Grief is for its own time, and then life changes, everything changes. There’s grief and then there’s acceptance. I’ve got to celebrate life.”

Quite how Barry will celebrate his brothers’ lives in his Mythology show is something he is cagey about. He doesn’t want to spoil the surprise for fans. But the initial shows in Australia and New Zealand featured home movies of the brothers, and Barry duetting with Robin on I Started A Joke using footage from one of the Bee Gees’ last shows.

Did Barry ever think that his own performing career may be at an end with Robin’s death?

“I sat around for the last decade really because after Mo died, Robin was really following what he always dreamt of, which was to be a solo artist,” says Barry. “And that was fantastic. I tried to stay out of his way for the most part. But in the last year or two I was hungry to play, and the last eight months has been about building a great band and a great show and doing something worthwhile.”

Manchester is not the only place to claim the Bee Gees. The three eldest boys and their sister Lesley were born on the Isle of Man, where father Hughie was the drummer in a swing band. After their formative years in Chorlton, the family moved to Australia, where the Bee Gees got their first record contract.

Barry says he considers “any or all of those places” to be home. But the other home for this father-of-five has for many years been Miami.

“We were on the point of fading away in 1973, and we suggested we come to Miami and make an album, Main Course,” says Barry.

Fading away?

“About 1970 to 1971 we felt, and I think a lot of other people felt, that in those days every group had a five-year life span, and that’s how we felt. Maybe that’s it.”

The record books now tell us otherwise. And one is bound to wonder what this prolific songsmith considers to be his best work.

“I’ve got lots of favourite songs, fortunately,” he says. “I have to say that my favourite is How Deep Is Your Love, and probably also How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. It’s the songs that touch you: Emotion, To Love Somebody, the songs that people have come up to me and said ‘We fell in love to that song’.”

Barry Gibb’s Mythology tour comes to the Manchester Arena on Sunday, September 29.

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